An angry Aaron last chapter and a worried Emily this chapter... based on 2x08.
Enjoy!
Home is Where the Heart is
Emily stood anxiously at the bedroom door, watching as Aaron packed his bag. He was flying out tonight to Afghanistan with the president and Emily was worried. Who wouldn't be?
"I'll only be gone for a few days" Aaron said, not even looking up. He didn't need to look at Emily to know how she was feeling.
"A few days too long."
"I was away last week, and you didn't complain then." Aaron reminded her. He had gone to New York with Warner and George for a few days last week for a break.
"This is Afghanistan we're talking about Aaron not the freakin' Plaza!" Emily said with an exacerbated tone.
Aaron looked up and smirk lightly; "Emily… are you worried about me?" he teased, reminding her of the time she was sent to Michigan.
Emily narrowed her eyes; "Don't tease me, yes I am worried about you and so were you and I was only in Michigan, so I think you can let me have this one!"
Aaron walked towards Emily and pulled her into his chest as she closed her eyes and listened to his steady heartbeat, feeling so safe and secure with his arms wrapped around her.
"I will be fine and I will be in touch."
"Just… don't do anything stupid. Call of Duty doesn't really qualify you for what you might see out there." Emily joked as Aaron smiled lightly and kissed her head.
"I promise I'll be careful."
Emily couldn't quite believe her luck when she arrived into work the next day. Of course when she was feeling anxious and afraid everything would go wrong. Both Seth and Lyor were having legal issues, Lyor was terrible at being press secretary and the first lady still had a subpoena looming over her.
She had a blinding head ache since the first issue landed on her desk and she didn't feel like it would be going away any time soon.
She tried to hide out in her office for as long as she could but every time she sat down someone came in with something for her to do.
By the time Lenny walked into the room, her patience was gone.
"Hey Em—" Lenny began as she entered her office.
"What?!" Emily asked aggressively as she looked up from the sofa to see a confused looking Lenny.
"Ok Momma pants, what's got into you?" Lenny said as she put her hands on her hips.
"I don't know Lenny, maybe it's the fact that someone is trying to set the first lady and her mother up or that Lyor's marriage is causing him to evade his taxes or the fact that Seth just put his job on the line to save his little brother or that my husband is in freakin' Afghanistan and where there has just been a bomb right beside where they are, and he hasn't called me once!" Emily said quickly.
"… right. That's a lot…" Lenny said slowly as Emily placed her head in her hands and tried to calm herself down.
When she finally lifted her head up, Lenny could see the tears forming in her eyes and the anxiety that was spread across her face.
"Em…" Lenny began as she walked towards her and sat beside her.
"You know me Lenny, I get stressed, I get worked up, but I am never like this. I tackle things head on, I deal with my issues as they come, but I don't know how to deal with this. I don't know how to deal with him being in a war zone." Emily confessed as Lenny held onto her best friend's hand. "He's only going to be there for 48 hours and he's not going into combat, I know… but when I saw the news footage of that bomb it just put me into this mindset of how I just couldn't live without him and I don't want to imagine that."
"Oh honey…" Emily said as she pulled her friend in for a side hug, allowing her to cry. "I know you're never like this, but when someone you love so much is in danger, it's totally natural to freak out. But you need to take a minute and breathe. He's ok. You would know if he wasn't."
"I know, I know, I just… he should have called me. Honestly, he could have called and just said "I'm ok" and then hung up and I could breathe again. He promised me a forever Lenny and after everything I'm not going to let him give me any less than that." Emily said as her hand instinctively fell to her stomach. "It probably sounds ridiculous but last night was the first night that I slept in our bed without him in I don't know how long and I just- I couldn't sleep. I was so used to him being there that I just felt so off about being there alone."
"It's not ridiculous... it's love." Lenny said with a little snicker that Emily returned.
She knew the stress that she was under wasn't good for her or the baby and Lenny knew it too.
"I also can't believe that Seth would jeopardize everything like this, I can't lose him around here, I need him." Emily said, incredibly worried about the trouble her friend had gotten himself into.
"Ok, you're going to go home and you're going to get into your pyjamas and I'm going to call Vivienne and send her over with a whole load of junk food and chick flicks." Lenny said as Emily smiled lightly. "Kendra and I are going to deal with this Seth and Lyor thing and then I will be right over, and I am not leaving your side until Aaron is back on American soil. Not just American soil, White House soil or Casa Shore soil." Lenny joked as Emily laughed softly.
"You're the best" Emily said quietly.
As Lenny stood and gave her a wink, before leaving the room.
She needed to find Seth.
It didn't take long for Lenny to locate Seth. He was sitting in the chair at his desk, squeezing a stress ball. She felt the anger boil in her a little. Why was he just sitting there?
"Hey." She said bluntly.
"You here to help solve my woes?" Seth asked.
"No, I'm here to tell you to wise the hell up." Lenny said as she crossed her arms.
"Don't start with me Lenny—"
"I get that you want to protect you family. I want to protect mine too. Emily is my family. Did you think about how all of this would affect her?" Lenny asked as Seth sunk in his chair in silence. "Her husband is in Afghanistan and now one of her closest friends is caught in a drugs scandal. She didn't need that today. She's pregnant Seth and she's in one of the most stressful jobs on the planet. Stress and pregnancy don't mix!"
"This isn't about Emily, Lenny. This is my issue." Seth simply stated.
"If you believe that this doesn't have an impact on the people closest to you, then you're deluded. Kendra may have got you off the hook, but you are walking a very thin line and I mean that as Emily's best friend and as a lawyer." Lenny warned.
Seth merely nodded, realising this was a battle that he wasn't going to win.
"Just—be careful Seth. You matter just as much as Michael does and this is bigger than both of you." Lenny finished, before turning and leaving the room.
Lenny held true to her word and she and Vivienne kept Emily company for the night. They felt like they were 16 again, spending their Saturday nights in their dorm room, all huddled on a make shift bed on the floor. Expect this time, they were all huddled in Emily and Aaron's bed as they ate and watched movies, before falling asleep.
Aaron arrived home early the next morning and wanting nothing more than to just crawl into bed with his wife. When he landed, he had a text from Lenny explaining how Emily got really worked up while he was away. He was immediately worried about her, and had no doubt in his mind that he would probably be greeted with a little bit of hostility for not calling her.
As he walked into his bedroom he stopped in his treks when he saw Vivienne, Emily and Lenny all cuddled up together in the bed. Aaron knew she hadn't been sleeping well and was so thankful that she looked so peacefully lying there between the two girls who were like her sisters.
He smiled softly at them before leaving the room again. He figured Vivienne and Lenny would wake up looking for extra strong coffee and Emily would be looking for her herbal tea, so he made his way into the kitchen to find some.
"Hi" he heard a soft voice say behind him as he turned around in the hallway to see Emily standing there in her night gown, her hand placed protectively over her stomach.
"Hi" he replied. "Are you mad at me for not calling?" he asked.
"Yeah" she replied simply.
"Can you be mad at me tomorrow instead?" he asked.
"Why?" Emily asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"Cause right now, I'd really just like to hold my wife." Aaron responded with a sad look on his face as Emily walked towards him and allowed him to hold her close.
For a moment she managed to forget about the fear and the anxiety of the last few days. She felt safe, secure and loved. She felt sure that he was hers, and he was here to stay. Life wasn't going to be easy, curve balls were going to be thrown their way, but they would tackle things together. Always.
For now, they wanted to take their moment, as they felt like home to each other and what was more important than that? After all, home is where the heart is.
